Who's dumber?...

[mlcraven]

Re: Who's dumber?...

Anyone who lives above their means is asking for trouble. The purpose of business is to make money. Asking a company to have a heart and forgive debt is like asking you to send me a check for no reason. Hey everyone, have a heart! Send me $10k, it will really help! Point is, you're not obligated to pay my bills. If I get in over my head, why should anyone bail me out?

Credit cards need to be paid in full every month. Spent more than you have this month? Shred it the second you realize you have a problem. Its just like gambling-- you can destroy your personal finances veeerrry quickly if you don't have self-control.

Personally, i don't care what the interest rate on my cc is-- I never have to pay any.

Exactly...and whatever happened to the concept of having a budget and sticking to it, and having a cash contingency in case the world goes to crap.

I know there are legitimate scenarios where folks get caught out by circumstances beyond their control, but there is definitely a right way and a wrong way to use credit. The right way is to exploit its convenience and short term flexibility; the wrong way is to use it to buy things that were unaffordable in the first place.

[BOWTIE6872]

Re: Who's dumber?...

and if someone opens a card in your name..
and doesn't pay..
your REAL card can and will up your rate to the default rate, tho. you where never late on that car or any other loan..
and fixing cards/personal info. when stolen..
can take up and over 3 years..
so you can pay a default rate on everything.. for over 3 years if someone steels your info. and opens cards/loans/etc
in your name.. and unless you live under a rock, you know this theft is up 200% every year..
auto loans banks are writing are also worded ,this way..
can you swing.. your car payment if you have one. that goes from 5% to 29.99%
because tjx computers where hacked and someone opened a loan in your name???????????
most can't
and then the ball starts rolling..
there is fair rules..
and there are .unfair rules .
you think the banks will give you back the 25% difference in % payed when your personal info. is fixed 2-3 years down the line..
I don't..
I had it happen. someone opened loans/cards in my name .3 years later ..
and 5k in laywer b/s
my credit was half fixed..

[mlcraven]

Re: Who's dumber?...

and if someone opens a card in your name..
and doesn't pay...I had it happen. someone opened loans/cards in my name .3 years later ..
and 5k in laywer b/s
my credit was half fixed..

Well, I agree that really sucks and I'd be equally unhappy, but ID theft is a somewhat different (although no less vexing) problem.

[Schtauffer]

Re: Who's dumber?...

Call me old school, I'm ok with that. I wouldn't go so far to call debt wrong, but it is very foolish to buy things on credit. If you can't afford it now, when will you be able to?

[fordguy460]

Re: Who's dumber?...

IMO most credit is bad because it moves people away from cash. thats why direct deposit is almost always free. to get people using cards. credit is handed out and people use it rather than cash and forget that it means money, just throwing the debt onto a pile until one day they look at the bottom line and see where they have been paying the minimum and still have a mountain of debt.

it all comes down to living out of ones means but IMO the banks and credit card companies want people to not use cash. the GOVT. has a vested interest in people using their printed money and not make believe bank money.

credit should be used for houses or a car. a business using credit is different so im not talking about that. buying clothes or food or electronics or car parts on credit ( once again IMO) just shouldnt be done unless you need a parts or tires to get you back and forth or you are really in a bad spot and must buy food or clothes on credit.


when credit is so intrusive in your life that they know your buying habits, will prevent you from renting an apartment or getting a decent job something is wrong. its turned into credit running peoples lives. it tells you where you can live what you can buy and where you can work. if you cant work at a place because of a credit score how do you increase your earning potential to get a better credit rating? (pay your bills right?) not always. you dont even need to be in debt to be screwed by the credit thing. if someone is 25 and never been in debt never had credit and doesnt show up on one of the 3 credit scores you simply dont exist. i had a friend that couldnt get hired anywhere other fast food because they couldnt get a credit score on her. one place told her to get a visa and go shopping then come back in 6 months :/

paying cash isnt a bad thing. the govt allowing peoples lives to be decided by banks and credit companies is kind of messed up.

[Turbo Regal]

Re: Who's dumber?...

Confused by credit card policies?

Its simple-- pay the darn balance every month and they won't charge you interest!!

Not so fast. They are now talking about charging interest on the purchase starting the moment you buy something instead of a 25 day grace period like they do now. They are going to do this to make up for all of the deadbeat defaults they are dealer with.

People who play buy the rules being forced to pay up for people who don't. Sounds like: mortgages, health care and education for illegals, etc...

[oldsman496]

Re: Who's dumber?...

The bottom line for all of this is that (for the majority) the American banks are liars. Proven in a court of law liars. And they know it and we all know it. They do what they want when they want and there is nothing u or I will do about any of it becuase we are sheep. Its how we are raised and how we are taught in school to think from the curriculum supplied by our govt...........and our govt is OWNED by the banks.

We are raised to believe in our legal system...that is...that piece of paper that the bank gives us when we deal with them - actually means something. that it has 'worth'.

In virtually any and all corporate to private entity legal agreements, there is a clause stating that the "lender" has the right to sell the loan at any time for any reason to any entity they see fit. That entity then has the right to reset the terms of the loan...

So what is the purpose of any kind of legal agreement when they allow a clause such as this?

It is because the agreements are just crap and lies and bullshit subject to the whim of the "lender". And , Obviously, our society has no Issue with that. We are conditioned to believe that those 'contracts' are 'good'. That's why most folks don't read them.
It is a basic tenant of finance. Trust. But there is no "real" base to it...Its just the warm fuzzies...Faith really.....We are skating that fine line as a country right now where people may be losing the faith.

The "Promise to Pay" is all we have been giving the Chinese for many yrs now...and they may be losing the faith also.

This is a Capatilistic Republic. We do not judge success on how many of our fellow countrymen we helped in our lives. We judge on how big our flat panel is. I got a 114".

Allot of folks began to realize what scumbags the banks really are, and have been taking every advantage they can from them... you might say... trying to 'bleed 'em dry'. good luck on that .

You should not live beyond your means.. Shame that America (speaking of America as if it were a business) has been living on credit for the last 15 yrs. well really ever since we left the gold standard.....Nixon in '73...? i think.? The next 2 yrs will be interesting.




Don't get me riled up over the issue of "usery" I'll start bringing up jesus quotes.

[Schtauffer]

Re: Who's dumber?...

Call me old school, I'm ok with that. I wouldn't go so far to call debt wrong, but it is very foolish to buy things on credit. If you can't afford it now, when will you be able to?

flip side, you need a house. If you can pony up 150,000.00 for a house, my hat's off to you. You go to buy the house and the blood sucking real estate agent (no offense Tonya) gets more money for a 180,000 than a 120,000 house. Guess which one they "make a deal of a lifetime" on for you? The mortgage monkey gives you an ARM that you can afford initially... then it changes. Then shit goes very wrong. You fall. Your wife gets laid off. Now what?

House, yeah, that's a little different. Those you can usually sell and get most of your money back out of, hopefully turn a profit. Borrowing money to buy something that depreciates or is immediately worthless (for instance, a meal at a nice restaurant) is the kind of thing that buries people in cc debt.

Things go wrong sometimes. That's life. Accidents are one thing; foolish financial decisions are another. When we built our house in 2006, the bank would have loaned us about a $100k more than would have been wise for us to borrow. We figured how much of a monthly payment we were comfortable with making, and built a house to fit that. We could have buried ourselves in a mortgage and the bank would have cheered us on. We used our own heads and didn't borrow as much as they would let us.

[Schtauffer]

Re: Who's dumber?...

Confused by credit card policies?

Its simple-- pay the darn balance every month and they won't charge you interest!!

Not so fast. They are now talking about charging interest on the purchase starting the moment you buy something instead of a 25 day grace period like they do now. They are going to do this to make up for all of the deadbeat defaults they are dealer with.

If that happens, I'll quit using credit cards. There's still debit cards for convenience, and those pre-paid cards you can buy.

Yeah, I'm a "deadbeat" in the eyes of the credit card companies. They hate people like me.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: Who's dumber?...

If you have a Discover card, it already is happening.

Brian

[Schtauffer]

Re: Who's dumber?...

If you have a Discover card, it already is happening.

Brian

Since when? Not on my statement. There's a big row of 0.00's in the interest charges line.

[dieselgeek]

Re: Who's dumber?...

flip side, you need a house. If you can pony up 150,000.00 for a house, my hat's off to you. You go to buy the house and the blood sucking real estate agent (no offense Tonya) gets more money for a 180,000 than a 120,000 house. Guess which one they "make a deal of a lifetime" on for you? The mortgage monkey gives you an ARM that you can afford initially... then it changes. Then shit goes very wrong. You fall. Your wife gets laid off. Now what?

No one needs a house. IT's a bad idea to take out a loan for a house that requires BOTH you and the wife working to make the payments and pay the rest of the bills. In your example, the credit industry just fooled you into living in a house that you cannot afford. That's not the bank's fault.


And to the guy who thinks banks are the crooks when they lend money - another simple answer - don't borrow from them and they won't be around much longer for us to worry about.

Get a house that's cheaper, or rent a place even cheaper, until you save up enough to be able to pay for the place with one income.

[nosnerd]

Re: Who's dumber?...

[quote=Schtauffer ]

Call me old school, I'm ok with that. I wouldn't go so far to call debt wrong, but it is very foolish to buy things on credit. If you can't afford it now, when will you be able to?

House, yeah, that's a little different. Those you can usually sell and get most of your money back out of, hopefully turn a profit. Borrowing money to buy something that depreciates or is immediately worthless (for instance, a meal at a nice restaurant) is the kind of thing that buries people in cc debt.

Things go wrong sometimes. That's life. Accidents are one thing; foolish financial decisions are another. When we built our house in 2006, the bank would have loaned us about a $100k more than would have been wise for us to borrow. We figured how much of a monthly payment we were comfortable with making, and built a house to fit that. We could have buried ourselves in a mortgage and the bank would have cheered us on. We used our own heads and didn't borrow as much as they would let us.

my words exactly...

bank said we could get a 220k loan.....i flat out asked her if she was stupid...and we walked out five minutes later...went to a broker and got what we needed....


al

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Who's dumber?...

flip side, you need a house. If you can pony up 150,000.00 for a house, my hat's off to you. You go to buy the house and the blood sucking real estate agent (no offense Tonya) gets more money for a 180,000 than a 120,000 house. Guess which one they "make a deal of a lifetime" on for you? The mortgage monkey gives you an ARM that you can afford initially... then it changes. Then shit goes very wrong. You fall. Your wife gets laid off. Now what?

No one needs a house. IT's a bad idea to take out a loan for a house that requires BOTH you and the wife working to make the payments and pay the rest of the bills. In your example, the credit industry just fooled you into living in a house that you cannot afford. That's not the bank's fault.


And to the guy who thinks banks are the crooks when they lend money - another simple answer - don't borrow from them and they won't be around much longer for us to worry about.

Get a house that's cheaper, or rent a place even cheaper, until you save up enough to be able to pay for the place with one income.

Again an excercise of restraint. My house payment is 1/5 my monthly income, and that is after it went up with the 15-year re-fi last November (from a 30yr-fixed). I could of done more (I tried for the 6,000 sqft shop with paint booth though :o) and paid the higher house payment, but I was happy with what I found and enjoy the disposable income from that.

[BOWTIE6872]

Re: Who's dumber?...

Call me old school, I'm ok with that. I wouldn't go so far to call debt wrong, but it is very foolish to buy things on credit. If you can't afford it now, when will you be able to?

you buy your house with cash, in full???????????????
guess you shouldn't have bought it..